Local Plan.
The latest proposals for the new plan for Buckinghamshire future housing, employment and green space have now gone out to consultation. Figures for what are being proposed are set out below. It should be noted that the total numbers required have increased from the old plan due to the Governments desire to build 1.5 million homes during this parliament. The old plan proposed 65,000 homes with 22,000 having already been either built or started construction and this is for up to the year 2045.
The proposed headline numbers are set out below.
Brownfield sites within existing towns and villages 1,500-2,500
Growth on the edges of existing main towns 23,000-28,000
New towns 11,000-13,000
Development at transport hubs 16,000-19,000
Expansion near key employment areas 5,000-6,000
Limited expansion of villages 13,000-15,000
Expanding urban areas on the edge of Buckinghamshire 6,000-7,000
Total 75,000-91,000
Windfall 7,400
Total housing supply + commitments 82,000-99,000
Housing requirement 91,000
with 5% buffer95,550
What this means for us within Ivinghoe ward, with only villages and hamlets, is that the proposed increase would equate to 60 dwellings per parish. Obviously, for some smaller parishes an additional 60 dwellings would significantly increase their population. Therefore, my colleague Peter Brazier and I will put forward a proposal to place a ceiling on any increase to 10% maximum.
On top of this there is a proposal for the creation of new towns. These would be of at least 10,000 dwellings and would be additional to the numbers stated above.
Buckinghamshire Council are required to progress this new plan with a deadline of December 2026 to remain under the remit of the old system. Government have introduced a new way of calculating need and if we do not meet that deadline we will be working under the new scheme which will undoubtedly increase numbers which need to be provided.
Buckinghamshire Council have just published their draft documents here;
Draft Local Plan for Buckinghamshire Part A
Draft Local Plan for Buckinghamshire Part B
They are very comprehensive documents.
The consultation is here;
Have your say on the draft Local Plan for Buckinghamshire – Your Voice Bucks – Citizen Space
We would encourage everyone to complete the consultation.
Buckinghamshire Archive.
In March 2025, Buckinghamshire Archives Service was awarded provisional Accredited Status for two years by the National Archives, to be reviewed a year after the relocation to High Wycombe has taken place. The assessors congratulated the service on its strong community engagement offer and noted positive developments around digital preservation. The Archives Service has also been confirmed as an ongoing Place of Deposit, which means it can continue to hold specific records under Section 4 (1) of the Public Records Act (1958). The Accreditation Assessment is a rigorous process and achieving this award confirms the Service is performing well in all aspects of delivery. The Archives Service has introduced a Virtual Classroom offer, in addition to the Virtual Searchroom and ‘Ask the Archivist’ online offers. This will enable schools across the county to incorporate archives into their learning.
Fair Funding settlement.
Whilst this may sound a bit of a dry topic it is in fact vitally important. Buckinghamshire Council receives its revenue, approx. £1.2bn, from council tax and business rates. The days of general grants from government ended some years ago and since then we have been wary of what is called Negative Revenue Support Grant. This would mean that we would give some of the revenue we had raised in this county back to Government for them to in turn give to another local authority elsewhere in the country. The latest proposal from Government is that this will indeed happen and is due to be announced sometime toward the end of the year. The figure being suggested by the County Councils Network is £40m which will bring pressure to our budget on an unprecedented scale. Central Government are still to confirm the actual figures but on the CCN figures we would be in the highest 2 or 3 councils negatively affected. Since inception, Buckinghamshire Council has made savings of £120m in its first 4 year term and has budgeted for a further £120m of savings in this term. An additional demand of 33% on top of these savings will bring difficulty in deciding what to cut from our non-core services. We really hope our MPs will lobby hard on this subject as it is unfair to expect Bucks residents and businesses to subsidise other parts of the country.